Commercial leases are standard in business. Whether you’re running a retail shop, a café, an office, or an industrial premises, you need to lease space and sign a commercial lease for it.
In the simplest terms, a commercial lease is a contractual document outlining the rights and duties of the landlord and the tenant. It contains essential information, including the duration of the lease, lease amount, and due date.
When taking a commercial lease, it’s essential to work with a commercial lease lawyer. However, this isn’t always the case. For many entrepreneurs, hiring a commercial lease lawyer amounts to additional costs that they’d rather avoid.
What many don’t realize initially is that commercial real estate leases can be challenging and confusing due to the laws and regulations involved. This is where a commercial lease lawyer comes in—they can protect your rights and ensure that all legal aspects of the transaction are in place, including the lease document.
If you’re leasing a commercial real estate property, here are five reasons you need to hire a commercial lease lawyer:
- Review Lease Agreements
By hiring a commercial lease lawyer, you’ll have a person with a legal background to review your lease agreement before you sign it. When reviewing your commercial lease agreement, your lawyer will ensure that your rights as a tenant are protected.
If you need help negotiating your lease, get an experienced commercial lease attorney like GLG LLP. A lawyer will negotiate specific aspects of the lease or pre-let arrangements to ensure that your business enjoys the best lease terms and conditions.
- Minimize Potential Risks
Real estate transactions are time-consuming and highly complex, whether you plan to lease a property or buy it. The best way to maneuver these complexities and reduce the risks of renting commercial properties is to hire a commercial real estate lawyer.
The main risks associated with commercial lease include loss of lease due to non-payment of rent, overpayment of rent, lease renewal, lease termination penalties, and maintenance issues. These risks can lead to complications due to varying understanding of legal terms and methods of calculating rent. However, hiring a commercial lease lawyer enables you to manage these risks as you enter into a commercial lease.
- Resolve Lease Issues
When you lease a commercial property, many issues that you have little or no experience dealing with can emerge during the lease duration. These include lease renewals, tenant claims, subletting arrangements, and relocation notices. While resolving these issues can take time, having an experienced commercial lease attorney can make it easier for you to navigate.
- Skilled Lease Negotiation
Leasing a commercial property requires good negotiation skills if you want reasonable prices, space, and usage terms. When getting a commercial lease, your focus shouldn’t just be on rent. It should also be on other aspects of the lease that can affect your business significantly in the future.
These include the duration of notice to vacate the commercial building and subletting of leased space. Other vital aspects that tenants need to pay attention to include acquisition of additional space should the business expand, cancellation of the lease, extension of lease duration, and assigning the lease to third parties.
Commercial lease attorneys have the skills required to negotiate these and other commercial real estate lease aspects. Their expertise and knowledge would make it easier to negotiate favorable lease terms for your business.
- Conduct Due Diligence
The physical and legal condition of a commercial space affect business operations. Therefore, it would be helpful to investigate facts about a retail space before signing a lease to protect your company. A commercial lease attorney can help you with the investigation by confirming building zoning, thus ensuring that you’re allowed to conduct your intended operations.
The lawyer can conduct further due diligence by engaging a title company to generate a report about the commercial space highlighting pending legal claims, liens, and mortgage lenders. Moreover, commercial lease lawyers can advise you on the areas of the property that require professional inspection like plumbing, electrical, and HVAC systems. Doing so will allow you to have peace of mind that they’re complying with legal provisions.
Final Thoughts
Leasing commercial space isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. There are many aspects of a commercial lease that, if ignored, can lead to complications that may affect the future operations of your business. These include lease duration, renewal, duration of notice to vacate, rent increment, and subletting arrangements.
Commercial lease lawyers specialize in negotiating, reviewing, and resolving issues relating to commercial leases. If you’re planning to lease retail space for your business, hiring a commercial attorney will help you minimize risks by addressing lease issues that may not be obvious to you.